Famous 19th-century poet Alexei Koltsov. Alexei Vasilievich Koltsov - an outstanding Russian poet of the Pushkin era Koltsov d



Date of Birth:
Place of Birth:	Voronezh, Russian empire
Date of death:
Place of death:	Voronezh, Russian Empire
	Russian empire
Occupation:	Poet, merchant
Years of creativity:

Education

Creation

Death of poet

Creation

Grave of A. V. Koltsov

Monuments to A. V. Koltsov

Addresses in Voronezh

Addresses in St. Petersburg

Biography

Family

Alexey Vasilyevich Koltsov was born in Voronezh in the family of Vasily Petrovich Koltsov (1775-1852), a buyer and cattle dealer (prasol), who was known throughout the district as an honest partner and a strict householder. A man of strong temper, passionate and addicted, the poet's father, not limited to being an embassy, rented land for sowing grain, bought forests for a log house, traded firewood, and was engaged in cattle breeding.

Alexei's mother was kind, but not educated, not even literate. He had no peers in his family: his sister was much older, and his brother and other sisters were much younger.

Education

From the age of 9, Koltsov learned to read and write at home, showing such abilities that in 1820 he was able to enter a two-year district school, bypassing the parish. Vissarion Belinsky wrote the following about the level of his education:

We do not know how he was transferred to the second grade, and in general what he learned in this school, because no matter how briefly we knew Koltsov personally, we did not notice any signs of an elementary education in him.

After a year and four months (second grade) at the school, Alexei was taken by his father. Vasily Petrovich believed that this education would be enough for his son to become his assistant. Alexei's job was to drive and sell livestock.

At the school, Alexey fell in love with reading, the first books he read were fairy tales, for example, about Bova, about Yeruslan Lazarevich. He bought these books with the money he received from his parents for treats and toys. Later, Alexey began to read various novels, which he took from his friend Vargin, who was also the son of a merchant. The future poet especially liked the works "A Thousand and One Nights" and "Cadmus and Harmony" by Kheraskov. After Vargin's death in 1824, Alexey Koltsov inherited his library - about 70 volumes. In 1825 he became interested in the poems of I. I. Dmitriev, especially "Ermak".

Creation

In 1825, at the age of 16, he wrote his first poem, Three Visions, which he later destroyed. The poem was written in imitation of Koltsov's favorite poet, Ivan Dmitriev.

Koltsov's first mentor in poetry was the Voronezh bookseller Dmitry Kashkin, who gave the young man the opportunity to use books from his library for free. Kashkin was direct, intelligent and honest, for which he was loved by the youth of the city. Kashkin's bookstore was a kind of club for them. Kashkin was interested in Russian literature, read a lot and wrote poetry himself. Apparently Koltsov showed him his first experiments. For 5 years, Koltsov used his library free of charge.

Somewhere in his youth, the future poet experienced a deep drama - he was separated from a serf girl whom he wanted to marry. This was reflected, in particular, in his poems "Song" (1827), "You do not sing, nightingale" (1832) and a number of others.

In 1827 he met the seminarian Andrei Srebryansky, who later became his close friend and mentor. It was Srebryansky who instilled in Koltsov an interest in philosophy.

The first publications of the young poet were anonymous - 4 poems in 1830. Aleksey Koltsov published his poems under his own name in 1831, when N. V. Stankevich, famous poet, publicist and thinker, whom Koltsov met in 1830, published his poems with a short preface in Literaturnaya Gazeta. In 1835 - the release of the first and only collection during the life of the poet "Poems of Alexei Koltsov". On his father's business, he traveled to St. Petersburg and Moscow, where, thanks to Stankevich, he met V. G. Belinsky, who had a great influence on him, with Zhukovsky, Vyazemsky, Vladimir Odoevsky and Pushkin, who published Koltsov's poem in his journal Sovremennik " Harvest".

After the release of the poems "The Young Reaper", "It's Time for Love" and "The Last Kiss", Mikhail Saltykov-Shchedrin became interested in Koltsov. He called the main feature of these poems "a burning sense of personality."

Traveling on his father's business affairs, Koltsov met various people and collected folklore. His lyrics glorified ordinary peasants, their work and their lives. Many poems became words to the music of M. A. Balakirev, A. S. Dargomyzhsky, M. P. Mussorgsky, N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov and many others.

Death of poet

Alexei Koltsov often had quarrels with his father (especially in last years life); the latter had a negative attitude towards the literary work of his son.
As a result of depression and prolonged consumption, Koltsov died at the age of thirty-three in 1842.
V. G. Belinsky wrote:

The poet was buried at the Mitrofanevsky cemetery in Voronezh.

In 1846, the famous Russian actor of the era of romanticism, P. S. Mochalov, who knew A. V. Koltsov, published his poems in the journal Repertoire and Pantheon:

I came low
bowed
With a deep breath
and tear
Looked at the cross
and prayed
Rest your souls.
So here Koltsova
buried -
With you high dreams.
But believe - not all of you
forgot -
Boyana Russian, and you
Left to live in the hearts
of people
Your beautiful song.

Creation

Alexey Koltsov's early poetic experiments represent imitations of poems by Dmitriev, Zhukovsky, Pushkin, Kozlov, Kheraskov and other poets; in these works, the poet is only still groping for his own artistic style. But even among them there are already such poems in which it is impossible not to see the future songwriter. On the other hand, attempts to write in the spirit of book poetry are observed in Koltsov until his death, interspersed with songs, and even among the latter, some are closer to book forms than to that specific manner in which one can see the features of Koltsov's style. Another genre of Koltsov is thoughts, which are similar in form to his songs, and in content represent a kind of poetic philosophy. Having glimpsed the philosophical disputes of the capital's friends, mainly in Belinsky's circle, Koltsov tries to clarify the world's problems in his thoughts.

Criticism

In 1856, in the fifth issue of the Sovremennik magazine, an article by N. G. Chernyshevsky was published, dedicated to the work of A. V. Koltsov
According to the literary critic Yu. I. Aikhenvald

Memory

Grave of A. V. Koltsov

The grave of A. V. Koltsov is preserved in the Literary Necropolis near the Voronezh Circus. On the tombstone, the date of death of Alexei Vasilyevich is erroneously given. In fact, he died not on October 19, but on October 29.

Monuments to A. V. Koltsov

A bust of the poet was erected in Koltsovsky Square in 1868. A monument to the poet is also installed on Sovietskaya Square in Voronezh.

Voronezh State Academic Drama Theater named after A. V. Koltsov

In 1959, by the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR, the Voronezh State Drama Theater was named after Alexei Vasilyevich Koltsov. A year before, the chief director of the theater, Firs Efimovich Shishigin, staged the play "Aleksey Koltsov" based on the story of the same name by V. A. Korablinov. The premiere took place in May 1958. Voronezh writer and journalist Valentin Yushchenko wrote at the time:

On June 19, 1958, as part of the Decade of Professional and Amateur Art of the Voronezh Region in Moscow, the play "Aleksey Koltsov" was shown on the stage of the Vl. Mayakovsky. Many actors after that were awarded honorary titles.

Currently, the old theater building is being renovated.

In philately, numismatics, sigillaty, etc.

A park, a gymnasium, a library and a street in Voronezh are also named after A.V. Koltsov.
In 1959, the Soviet historical and biographical feature film "The Song of Koltsov" was released.
In 1997, the film "At the Dawn of Foggy Youth", dedicated to Alexei Koltsov, was released.
The Voronezh Confectionery Factory has been producing sweets "Songs of Koltsov" since 1958. Until now, they had only a fruit-jelly filling. Recently, a market development study was conducted, as a result of which the company's specialists developed a new taste for this brand of sweets. Now it will be possible to purchase and try "Koltsov's Songs" not only with jelly, but also with nuts.
On the occasion of the 200th anniversary of the birth of A. V. Koltsov, the Bank of Russia issued a silver coin with a denomination of 2 rubles.
In 2011, on the occasion of the 425th anniversary of Voronezh, the Russian Post issued an envelope depicting a monument to the poet in Koltsovsky Square.

Addresses

Addresses in Voronezh

st. Bolshaya Streletskaya, 53 - presumably on this place there was a house in which Alexei Vasilyevich was born. In 1984, during the celebration of the 175th anniversary of the birth of the poet, a memorial plaque was hung on the wall of the house with the following content:

Ilyinsky Church - the temple in which Alexei Vasilyevich was baptized. The metric entry reads:

Devichenskaya st. (now st. Sakko and Vantseti), 72 - on this place there was a district school, where A.V. Koltsov studied. Now one of the buildings of the Voronezh Technological Academy has been built here.
st. Bolshaya Noble (now Revolution Avenue), 22 - the former residence of the Voronezh governors, on the wall of which there is a memorial plaque:

st. Bolshaya Nobility (now Revolution Avenue), 46 - the house where A. V. Koltsov lived. A memorial plaque hangs on the wall of the house with the erroneous content:

Addresses in St. Petersburg

1840 - V. G. Belinsky's apartment in tenement house Alekseeva - V. O., 6th line, 53.

Biography

Koltsov Alexey Vasilievich - famous folk poet. Born on October 3, 1809, in a wealthy petty-bourgeois family of the city of Voronezh. His father was a prasol who sold livestock - a smart, energetic, resourceful man. Koltsov's mother was a kind woman, but completely uneducated, even illiterate. Koltsov's childhood passed in a harsh patriarchal merchant family; the father was the only lord of the house and kept everyone in strict obedience. Only his mother knew how to get along with him and, apparently, had a more beneficial influence on the boy. Koltsov was left to himself. He had no peers in the family: one sister was much older than him, and his brother and other sisters were much younger. When he was 9 years old, one of the Voronezh seminarians began to teach him to read and write. Koltsov studied diligently and successfully; bypassing the parish, he directly entered the first class of the county school (1818), but did not stay at the school for long: a year and 4 months later, his father took him home, finding the information received by his son quite sufficient for the life for which he was preparing him - trade with a cat. Russian spelling remained inaccessible to Koltsov forever. The school, however, brought him the benefit that he fell in love with reading. The first books he read were popular prints, various fairy tales about Bova, about Yeruslan Lazarevich, etc. He bought them with money given to him for treats and toys. Then he turned to novels, which he got from his friend, Vargin, also the son of a merchant. Koltsov was particularly fond of Kheraskov's A Thousand and One Nights and Cadmus and Harmony. In 1824, Vargin died, leaving his library as a legacy to a friend - about 70 volumes in total. After leaving the school, Koltsov, presumably, began to help his father in his trading affairs, and then for the first time became better acquainted with the countryside and the Don steppes. This acquaintance immediately had a strong influence on him; a world of enchanting sounds and colors opened up to him, and he absorbed them into himself, in order to later convey his own, dear to this world, thoughts and feelings. In 1825, a poem by I. I. Dmitriev, which accidentally came across to him, made a strong impression on him; he especially liked Yermak. He was 16 years old when he wrote his first poem "Three Visions". Shortly thereafter, he met the Voronezh bookseller Kashkin. Direct, intelligent and honest, Kashkin enjoyed the love of the Voronezh youth; and his bookshop was a kind of club for her. He was interested in Russian literature, read a lot and, it seems, wrote poetry himself. There is reason to think that Koltsov showed him his first experiments. For 5 years, Koltsov used his library free of charge, getting acquainted with the works of Zhukovsky, Delvig, Kozlov, Pushkin. Koltsov's poems of 1826 - 1827, with rare exceptions, are a weak imitation of these samples. In the late 1920s, Koltsov became close friends with Andrei Porfiryevich Srebryansky, a graduate of the Voronezh seminary, later a student at the Medical and Surgical Academy. Srebryansky was himself a poet; his poems were very famous among the seminarians. One of his plays has not been forgotten to this day: it is a well-known student song "Fast as waves, the days of our life." In his letters to Belinsky, Koltsov more than once recalls with gratitude his friend, to whom he owed very valuable instructions, especially on the subject of verse technique, as well as a more rigorous choice of reading. The poem dedicated to him (“A.P. Srebryansky”, 1829) also testifies to Koltsov’s relationship to Srebryansky. In the late 1920s, Koltsov fell in love with Dunyasha, a serf girl who lived in their house, bought by his father from one of the neighboring landowners. My father acted cool: in one of his absences, Dunyasha Koltsova was sold to the Don, where she soon got married. This was a strong blow for Koltsov, the traces of which remained forever in his poetry. In 1829, Koltsov met Velyaminov, a professor of philosophy and physical and mathematical sciences at the Voronezh seminary, who, according to De Poulet, was a man who was seriously interested in literature. In the same year, a certain Sukhachev, who considered himself a writer, was passing through Voronezh. Koltsov met him and gave him a notebook of his poems. Sukhachev took her with him to Moscow, and in 1830 he published some of Koltsov's poems under his own name. A happy accident soon brought Koltsov to N.V. Stankevich. According to Ya. M. Neverov, Stankevich's father, a landowner in the Voronezh province, had a distillery where local cattle traders brought their herds to feed with stillage. Young Stankevich had no contact with these people. Once, going to bed, he could not call his valet for a long time. The valet, in his own defense, said that the newly arrived prasol Koltsov at dinner recited such songs to them that they all listened and could not be left behind; he cited several verses that remained in his memory, which also made a strong impression on Stankevich. He invited Koltsov to his place to ask him where he got such beautiful poems from. At the request of Stankevich, Koltsov gave him all his poems. Stankevich placed one of them in Literaturnaya Gazeta (1831), in a letter recommending to readers "a self-born poet who has not studied anywhere and, engaged in trading affairs on behalf of his father, often writes on the road, at night, sitting on horseback." In May 1831, Koltsov went to Moscow for the first time on business and litigation matters of his father and met members of Stankevich's circle there, including Belinsky. In the Moscow "Leaf" Koltsov placed in 1831 a number of poems. In 1835, with funds raised by members of Stankevich's circle, the first book of "Poems of Alexei Koltsov" was published - a total of 18 plays, chosen by Stankevich from "a rather weighty notebook." It included such pearls as "Don't make noise, rye", "Reflection of a peasant", "Peasant's feast" and others. Belinsky greeted this book with sympathy, recognizing in Koltsov "a talent small, but true." Koltsov, however, continued to write only in fits and starts, devoting his strength mainly to his father's commercial affairs. Koltsov's second trip to Moscow and St. Petersburg dates back to 1836. In Moscow, he met F. N. Glinka, Shevyrev, in St. Petersburg - with Prince Vyazemsky, Prince Odoevsky, Zhukovsky, Pletnev, Kraevsky, Panaev and others. Everywhere he was received very affectionately, some - sincerely, others - condescending to him, as to a poet-prasol, a poet-philistine. Koltsov knew perfectly well how anyone treated him; he was generally able to observe subtly and attentively. Koltsov met Pushkin in 1836. The acquaintance took place, according to A. M. Yudin, in Pushkin's apartment, where Koltsov was twice invited. Koltsov was in awe of Pushkin. Turgenev tells how at the evening at Pletnev's, Koltsov did not agree to read his last thought. “What would I begin to read, sir,” he said, “then Alexander Sergeevich just came out, and I would begin to read! Have mercy, sir! N. A. Polevoy speaks of Koltsov as a “pure, kind soul”; "with him he warmed himself, as if by a fireplace." Prince Vyazemsky characterizes him as "a child of nature, modest, simple-hearted." Belinsky was directly delighted with Koltsov. Zhukovsky, and Kraevsky, and Prince Odoevsky treated him just as well. The latter, and together with them Vyazemsky, often supported him in his personal, or rather, paternal affairs; thanks to them, more than once such lawsuits ended successfully, which the father, without having connections, would certainly have lost. This, perhaps, partly explains why his father treated him and his literary pursuits quite kindly at that time. Koltsov's poems were readily published in the best metropolitan magazines (Sovremennik, Moscow Observer). At home, his fame increased even more after Zhukovsky, accompanying the Heir to the Tsarevich on his journey through Russia, visited Voronezh (in July 1837). Everyone saw how Zhukovsky "walked on foot and in a carriage along with the prasol poet." Koltsov accompanied him when visiting the sights of the city. Koltsov at this time was becoming crowded in a family environment; he was strongly attracted to people of thought and culture, but he was too closely connected with all his past, both materially and spiritually, and his education still remained superficial. In Voronezh, few people understood his state of mind, especially after 1838, when Srebryansky died. He soon broke up with Kashkin. In 1838, Koltsov again went first to Moscow, then to St. Petersburg. During this trip, he became especially close to Belinsky, who became the only person close to him. He confided to Belinsky all his sorrows and joys, made him the judge of all his new works, which he immediately sent to him. In 1838 Koltsov wrote quite a lot. This was facilitated by the cultural environment and the interests of the metropolitan society in which he then rotated; this is how he himself explains the reason for his fruitful activity during this year (see his letter to Belinsky dated August 16, 1840). After this trip, Koltsov's life in Voronezh becomes even more lonely; the home environment is even more burdensome to him. With acquaintances, he is more and more at odds. Koltsov dreamed of the role of a teacher, a leader, he wanted to be a conductor of those lofty thoughts and ideas that he met in the mental centers of Russia; acquaintances derisively treated such attempts, saw him as a mere imitator. “To live at home, in the circle of merchants,” he writes to Belinsky, “I absolutely cannot now; in other circles, too ... The most joyless future is ahead of me. I, it seems, will fulfill one thing with all accuracy: a crow ... And, by God, I look terribly like her, it remains only to say: she didn’t get to the peacocks, but lagged behind the crows. There is nothing more for me than this.” Friends called Koltsov to Petersburg, offered him either to open a book trade himself, or to become the manager of Kraevsky's office. Koltsov did not follow this advice. He knew how little there was to be perfect in any trade, even book trade, and quite reasonably proved to his friends that he would not be able to compete with other booksellers if he conducted his business differently, not like a merchant. In September 1840, Koltsov again had to stay in the capitals on his father's business. This was his last trip. Meetings with Belinsky, V. Botkin revived him a little, raised his spirit. This time Koltsov was slow to return home, and on his way back from St. Petersburg he stayed longer in Moscow. It seemed too disgusting to him to find himself again in the maelstrom of the home environment. In February 1841, Koltsov nevertheless decided to return home. He had no money for the journey - his father did not want him back and categorically refused to send him; I had to borrow from a friend. At home, he again entered headlong into the affairs of his father, but relations between them worsened more and more. There were very difficult scenes that had a depressing effect on Koltsov. Soon Koltsov broke up with his beloved younger sister, Anisya, in whom he had previously seen the only soul close to him in the family. The tragedy of everyday life, heavy and hopeless, emanates from his letters to Belinsky at this time. Here he will finish some new building, put some of his father's affairs in order and will certainly come to Petersburg - his father promised to give him money. But things dragged on, Koltsov got entangled in them; health also began to deteriorate greatly - and hope was extinguished. For just one moment, and then a very short one, happiness smiled at him: he passionately fell in love with Varvara Grigoryevna Lebedeva, and this aroused in him faith in a better future; but due to various circumstances, they were soon to disperse. Koltsov's disease - consumption - began to develop rapidly. My father did not give money for treatment. Dr. I. A. Malyshev took an ardent part in the fate of Koltsov and, as best he could, supported his strength. In the adjoining room, the sisters were preparing for the wedding, noisy bachelorette parties were arranged, and Koltsov lay seriously ill, abandoned by everyone; only his mother and the old woman nurse looked after him. Koltsov died on October 29, 1842. Koltsov's poetry has long, since the time of Belinsky, been defined as deeply folk, or rather, even peasant. It is dominated by the same content, the same motives, the same form as in oral folk lyrics. Sadness, longing for the sweetheart, complaints about the fate of the sadness, unsuccessful family life, love calls, valiant prowess - these are simple, truly folk stories that Koltsov usually sings. It has more variations, experiences are conveyed deeper, more subtle, impulses are more passionate, colors are intensified, condensed, but the essence still remains the same; the difference is only quantitative, not qualitative. It is felt clearly that in his poetry an unnamed folk-collective creative genius has found its full, direct and exact expression. Koltsov looks at everything around him with the same wide-open naive eyes that the poets-creators of folk songs looked at, who remained unknown precisely because they did not have time to isolate themselves from the masses in their souls, everyone was worried, like the people themselves, and at the same time, and in unison with it. The special fullness of sensation, in which the individual “I” dissolves, the power of the original harmony, that syncretic unity in which God, the surrounding nature and the individual person mutually and completely penetrate each other, constitute something of a single whole - this is what is characteristic of this uncomplicated, the yet undifferentiated soul of a poet from the people; it is also characteristic of Koltsov. If we exclude from his poetry those imitative poems, where motives are borrowed, as it were, hastily from Zhukovsky, Delvig and Dmitriev, who accidentally came across and completely alien to him in spirit, and even “Duma”, written under the influence of Stankevich’s circle, especially Belinsky, who vainly enlightened him on account of "subject, object and absolute", then we are struck precisely by the extraordinary objectivity, the complete absence of the personal element. As if his lyrics were not at all the result of his personal experiences, but he only wanted to tell how, in general, every peasant boy or girl loves, rejoices, is sad, complains about fate or languishes in the narrow sphere of life fixed once and for all. Here, for example, is the despair of a young man from the betrayal of his betrothed: mortal torment torments the soul, the soul asks out of the body. Or love that transforms all life: “together with sweet winter seems like summer, grief - not grief, night - a clear day, and without it there is no joy in the May morning, and in the dawn-evening, and in the oak forest - green - silk brocade " . His favorite artistic techniques are the merging of two concepts or images into one (“awe-fire”, “love-longing”, “sadness-longing”, “love-fire”, “love-soul”, etc.), striking contrasts (like: “to be with grief at a feast with a cheerful face”, “the sun is shining - yes in autumn”). In everything and everywhere one can see a strong, passionate nature, experiencing everything in a special way, deeply, to the point of self-forgetfulness. And yet, everything personal sinks into the original synthetic integrity of the worldview, and Koltsov's songs become typical. It is the typical that is most characteristic of Koltsov. And no matter how bright its colors, and no matter how great their abundance - in each play they are new and different - the impression remains the same: these are feelings that are generally applicable to everyone and everyone, these are generic experiences, and not individual, not personal. Does the deceived woman yearn for a daring young man, turning with a prayer to the red sun, a wide field, violent winds; does the young woman lament that she was forcibly passed off as unlovable; whether the old man complains about his old age, the young one about his untalented share; is it told about how the zealous heart dries up like grass in autumn from the fire of love for the red maiden - in a word, about whom and no matter what Koltsov sang about, everywhere before us images are merged, faces are nameless; they can be characterized only in general terms, in extreme cases, determined by occupation or property status - if this is necessary to start an action - but nothing more, not more precisely, not more detailed. The whole peasant life passes before us; in written literature Koltsov is the only singer of agricultural labor. He knows this life very well, with all his heart he feels the sanctity of this work, sees and feels all its complexity, delves into his thoughts and moods, but he always draws it in a typical, fused form. With another poet, this would be a sign of the weakness of creative forces; in Koltsov one senses here the great truth of a great talent who perceives the world as it is perceived by the people, the peasantry. In comparison with oral folk art, Koltsov has a much greater variety of moments, experiences seem to be deeper; yet each given moment, each individual experience, remains general, characteristic of the type, not of the individual. The same childishly naive syncretic unity affects Koltsov's attitude to nature. All the life dramas of his heroes and heroines take place without fail in her bosom; people with all their thoughts turn first and most willingly to her, to her manifestations, as to their friends - helpers or hindering opponents. It is clearly felt that these are not simple metaphors, not an artistic device, not a way of borrowing the colors necessary for a given case. Koltsov conveys here, and again in a popular way, all the true closeness that exists between man and nature - that connection, thanks to which it is unthinkable to draw any sharp dividing line between them, and even more so to oppose them. Peasant life unfolds in complete harmony with nature. Not only in the sense that the plowman is dependent on her, as on his only breadwinner, and involuntarily must build his life, obeying her dictates. Here compatibility is of a completely different kind, free and desirable, like two equal partners, animated by the same thoughts and ideas. The farmer, his sivka, the field that he plows, the sun warming his land, the clouds shedding "on the earthly chest, on the wide, large tear - pouring rain", a bird flying over a cornfield or singing under the window of a hut, and even mute objects : plow, harrow, plow, sickle - all these are members of the same family, perfectly understanding each other; they all work together to create a complex and serious life. There are no lower and higher; mutual sympathy, unconsciousness, so to speak, mutual comprehension binds them together. That is why so naively touching and deeply truthful - and not only beautiful - seem such appeals as a young man to a nightingale, so that he flew off into the forests of his homeland, to chirp to the girl-soul about his longing, to tell her how without her he dries, fades, that grass on the steppe before autumn. Or a wonderful call to the field: “Do not make noise with a ripe ear of rye”; he has nothing to collect good for, nothing to get rich now: those clear eyes, once "full of amorous thoughts, sleep in a grave dream, the fair maiden" have flinched. Or those beautiful, purely folk parallels: “in bad weather, the wind howls, howls - evil sadness torments the violent head”; intimate trusting conversations with a dark night, a clear sun, with a wide steppe, a scythe-sickle, blackened, "splashed in boredom-sorrow with a girl's tear." All these beings and objects take an active part in the life and work of the peasant. Koltsov, if only he is free from reflection, has no other colors than those that exist in nature, in the earth, in the steppe or forest. There are none even when he is already clearly distracted from peasant life, speaks about himself personally, about his present moment, purely subjective state. For example, he feels cramped in a philistine environment, he is strongly drawn to a different, more cultured life; or something else: he is terribly struck by the tragic death of Pushkin, whom he could appreciate, of course, not from a peasant point of view - as a creative result, again the same folk images, the same objectivism, a complete distraction from his "I" ("In bad weather, the wind howls howls”, “That the dense forest is thoughtful”). Gleb Uspensky considers Koltsov the only singer of agricultural labor in Russian literature. This is very true: when he sings of the root cause of his own and the whole people's worldview, he achieves the greatest persuasiveness and simplicity and at the same time the fullness of harmony - in addition to man and nature, also God. In the cherished thoughts of the plowman there is a chaste holiness and seriousness, which intensifies and deepens with every change in nature and in particular in the field. With trepidation and prayer, the rural people waited for "the black cloud to frown, and expand, and shed a large tear - torrential rain." This desired rain has come - and with it three peaceful peasant thoughts. The peasant himself thought of the first two, and the execution depends on him: “Pour the bread into sacks, remove the cart and leave the village with a cart at the right time,” but how “the third thought thought - they prayed to God the Lord,” Koltsov does not say. And that's great. Her sin is to put into words; here is spiritual trembling, here God's participation begins. “A little light across the field, everyone dispersed and went for a walk one after another; to scatter a handful of bread; and let's plow the land with plows, and plow with a crooked plow. Bread is holy; he is God's guest; the Lord sends him for the labors of people. He Himself takes care of him through his nature: “he sees the sun - the harvest is over”, and only then it “went colder towards autumn”. That is why "the villager's candle is hot in front of the icon of the Mother of God." God is also a participant in peasant labor; He is its main participant, penetrating everything by Himself. This is how the people's worldview ends, or rather, the worldview; thus, God, nature, and man are united in a common union. The same holiness of religiosity is felt not only in The Harvest, but also in The Plowman’s Song, in The Peasant’s Reflections, who knows that “it’s a disaster to throw a farmer’s rye into the ground, and there God will spoil, Mikola will help to collect bread from fields." There is an indication of it in the "Peasant's Revel". Koltsov tried to clarify this sense of the syncretic unity of God, the cosmos and the human "I" in his famous "Duma". According to his mental structure, he was not capable of philosophical abstract thinking. It is not surprising that as soon as he speaks the language of Stankevich or Belinsky, the fire of his poetry immediately goes out, the power of the folk element trembling in his soul falls silent. The harmony that he constantly felt, he could express only in images taken from life, from surrounding nature, and not in ethereal, frozen symbols. And yet his "Thoughts" are characteristic; in the light of his truly poetic works, they also become very convincing. They contain the same idea, which he tirelessly repeats: about the animation of all nature, embodying the spirit of the Divine. Whether he expresses this conviction in the terms of Schellingianism he caught on the fly, or in the rationalistic concepts of abstract Hegelianism, completely alien to his spiritual way of life, whether he modernizes the slightly Christian idea of the Trinity, which is more familiar, and therefore more understandable to him, and through it tries to clarify his vague thoughts, - the essence remains the same everywhere: life is in everything and everywhere, and it is in God. "In the play of life, in the realm God's will no powerless death, no soulless life!” - he says in his thought: "God's world." In The Kingdom of Thought, he enumerates these overflows of life. God's spirit, God's idea lives in everything: “and in the ashes, and in the fire, in the fire, in the peals of thunder; in the hidden darkness of the bottomless depths”… and even “in the silence of the silent cemetery”, “in the deep sleep of an immovable stone”, and “in the breath of a silent blade of grass”. Everywhere she is alone, this "queen of being." “The father of light is eternity; The son of eternity is power; The spirit of power is life; the world is teeming with life. Everywhere is the Triune, calling everything to life” – this is how he interprets the three hypostases of Christianity. And no matter how abstract these thoughts, in comparison with his songs, seeming completely lifeless, they still show traces of that integral worldview, completed with a deep religious feeling, which is so beautifully and so directly reflected in his truly folk works. From the words of Belinsky, Koltsov understood only what was close to him, which was quite suitable for his own worldview. This does not yet exhaust the significance of Koltsov's Dooms. They reflect another side of his spiritual activity, less valuable, in a certain sense even harmful: for him, in any case, it brought him little good. This is the same cult of reason, the realm of thought, which inevitably had to act in a corrupting way on the integrity of his worldview and lead to those eternal damned questions to which there is not and cannot be a clear, consciousness-satisfying answer. These questions were all the more painful for Koltsov, because he knew well, experienced many times, in moments of creative enthusiasm, what joy overshadows the soul with a sense of harmony, synthesis, which precludes any kind of world problems. His poems such as "The Grave", "The Question", in particular "Prayer" are imbued with deep sorrow and anxiety. These are the very thoughts that even Belinsky recognized a certain value precisely in view of the seriousness of the questions they sincerely posed. The mind is not able to illuminate the darkness of the grave ahead of us, to answer the person that he will be replaced there by “a deep feeling of a cold heart, that there will be a life of the spirit without this heart.” These are sinful questions: there is only one step from them to complete denial. That is why the last stanza of the “Prayer” sounds such a plea of despair: “Forgive me, Savior! tears of my sinful evening prayer: in the darkness it shines with love for You. Koltsov in these cases seeks salvation in religion. “Before the image of the Savior” (as one of his “thoughts” is called), he deliberately “extinguishes the candle and closes the wise book”; her faith should replace him: "in her alone is peace and silence." “Under the cross is my grave; on the cross - my love, "- this is how another disturbing poem ends:" The Last Struggle. In these frequent fluctuations between questions-doubts and answers-decisions in the direction of simple-hearted faith, traces of the decomposition of the original harmony are visible. The poet of the peasantry, who knew and manifested in most of his work such a completeness of sensation, such an integrity of the true unity of God, nature and man, Koltsov nevertheless sharply raises those questions that are conceivable only with a completely different, opposite mental structure. In this sense, his inner affinity with Russian literature of the second half of the last century, which knew the torments of disharmony of the spirit, is most pronounced in the "Dumas". - Bibliography. I. Editions: First collected works (published in Moscow in 1835); the second, with an introductory article by Belinsky and with an appendix of an article by Srebryansky: "Thoughts about Music", was published by N. Nekrasov and N. Prokopovich (St. Petersburg, 1846). This edition was reprinted 10 times between 1856 and 1889. The first most complete and critically verified edition (A. Marx, St. Petersburg, 1892) was edited by A. I. Vvedensky; the next, even more complete with the inclusion of Koltsov's letters, is the edition of the Sever magazine, edited by A. I. Lyashchenko, St. Petersburg, 1893. The edition of the Academy of Sciences, edited by A. I. Lyashchenko (St. Petersburg, 1909) is the most complete. - Biographical information: Ya. M. Neverov, “Poet-prasol Koltsov” (“Son of the Fatherland”, 1836, volume 176); V. G. Belinsky, “On the Life and Works of Koltsov” (supplement to the 2nd edition of Koltsov’s works); A. Yudin, "Poet Koltsov and his poems" ("Experiments in the writings of the studio Kharkiv University", 1846, volume I); V. I. Askochensky, “My memories of Koltsov” (“Russian Invalid”, 1854, No. 244, “Kiev Provincial Gazette” of 1854, No. 41; “Historical Bulletin” of 1882, volume VII); M. N. Katkov, “A few additional words to the characterization of Koltsov” (“Russian Bulletin”, 1856, volume VI, November); I. I. Panaev, "Literary Memoirs" (St. Petersburg, 1888); A. N. Pypin, "Belinsky, his life and correspondence" (St. Petersburg, 1908); P. V. Annenkov, "Memoirs" (St. Petersburg, 1881, volume III); A. V. Nikitenko, Notes and Diary (St. Petersburg, 1904, I); P. Malykhin, "Koltsov and his unpublished poems" ("Notes of the Fatherland", 1867, volume 170, February); M. De Poulet, "Alexey Vasilyevich Koltsov in his everyday and literary affairs and in a family setting" (St. Petersburg, 1878). - III. Criticism and bibliography: V. G. Belinsky, "On the life and works of Koltsov" (with the 2nd edition of Koltsov's works, St. Petersburg, 1846); V. Stoyunin, "Koltsov" ("Son of the Fatherland", 1852, No. 3, 4 and 5); N. Chernyshevsky, "Essays on the Gogol period" (St. Petersburg, 1893); A. N. Afanasiev, “Koltsov and Voronezh teachers” (“Russian Speech”, 1861, No. 100); V. Ostrogorsky, "Russian writers as educational material" (St. Petersburg, 1885); G. I. Uspensky, “The Peasant and Peasant Labor” (St. Petersburg, 1889); A. Volynsky, "The Struggle for Idealism" (St. Petersburg, 1900); Y. Aikhenvald, "Silhouettes of Russian Writers" (M., 1908, II edition); V. Yarmerstedt, "The worldview of Stankevich's circle and Koltsov's poetry" ("Issues of Philosophy and Psychology", 1893, book 20; 1894, book 22); N. A. Yanchuk, “ Literary notes"(" Izv. det. Russian language and literature of the Academy of Sciences ", 1907, volume XII). On the issue of Koltsov's language: V. Istomin, "The main motifs of Koltsov's poetry" (Warsaw, 1893, reprint from the "Russian Philological Bulletin"); I. S. Krylov, "The Language of Koltsov's Works" ("Philological Notes", 1902, issue I). On the influence of Koltsov on writers from the people, see a number of articles by A. I. Yatsimirsky: “Peasant Writers” (“Literary Bulletin”, 1904). According to the bibliography, in addition to the usual sources, a special work by the chronicler Dmitry: “Koltsov in Russian and foreign literature” (“Bibliographic Notes”, 1892, No. 9).

Koltsov Alexey Vasilyevich was born on October 3, 1809, in the city of Voronezh. His father was a cattle trader, possessed of a flexible mind and energy. Mother was an illiterate woman, but very kind. Patriarchy reigned at home, the father kept everyone in strictness.

But after a year and a half, his father took him home, considering his knowledge sufficient for the family business - cattle trading. However, the love of reading, instilled in the school, manifested itself in the purchase of books for pocket money. His friend and associate Vargin supported Koltsov in his love of books. After his death, Vargin left Koltsov as a legacy 70 volumes of various works, which they kept like the apple of their eye. Alexey wrote his first poem at the age of 16, and it is called "Three Visions". After the appearance of a new comrade Kashkin, the Voronezh owner of a bookshop, he used his library free of charge.

Koltsov fell in love with the serf girl Dunyasha, whom his father bought from a neighboring landowner. The father found out about this, and in the absence of Koltsov, the girl was promptly resold to the Don, where she soon got married. For Koltsov it was a terrible blow.

An outstanding event in the life of Koltsov was his acquaintance with the landowner Stankevich. Thanks to him, the first poems were published in the Literary Gazette.

Koltsov goes to Moscow in 1838, then goes to St. Petersburg. At this time, Belinsky becomes the only person close to him. Returning from the trip, Koltsov felt even more lonely and useless.

In 1840, he again visits the capital on his father's business, and decides to stay with friends a little longer.

In February 1841, Koltsov wants to return home, but there is no money for the road at all, and his father categorically refuses to help, because he categorically does not want his son to return. Having borrowed money from a friend, Koltsov arrives and again plunges into his father's affairs, trying to please everyone in everything. But he never finds a close soul in the family. The moment of enlightenment was the relationship with Lebedeva, but due to circumstances, this union did not last long. Sick with consumption, he was dying abandoned by everyone. The father refused to help with the treatment at all. Only the mother and the old nanny cared for the seriously ill. Koltsov died on October 29, 1842.

Alexei Vasilyevich Koltsov (1809 - 1842) - an outstanding Russian poet of the Pushkin era. Among his works, the most famous are: “Oh, don’t show a passionate smile!”, “Betrayal of the Betrothed”, “A.P. Srebryansky", "The Second Song of Likhach Kudryavich" and many others.

Biography of Alexei Vasilyevich Koltsov

The life and creative path of the famous poet are interesting and informative.

Family

Alexei Vasilyevich was born on October 15, 1809. The father of the future poet was a buyer and merchant. He was known as a literate and strict householder. Mother, on the contrary, was kind in character, but completely uneducated: she could neither read nor write. There were many children in the Koltsov family, but there were no peers of Alexei: the brothers and sisters were either much older or much younger.

A brief biography of Alexei Vasilyevich Koltsov contains practically no information about his family: there is almost no information about this left. It is only known that the father raised the children rather harshly: he did not allow pranks and was demanding even in small things. He did not strongly insist on the children's studies, but everyone had basic reading and writing skills. Information about how many children the Koltsovs had, how they lived, has not been preserved.

Education

From the biography of Alexei Vasilievich Koltsov, we learn that the boy began literacy training (at home) from the age of nine. Studying was easy for him, he comprehended many sciences. In 1820, Alyosha entered the school and achieved great success in all subjects. But most of all he loved to read. The future poet began with the first thing that came to hand - from fairy tales, a little later he switched to novels. And in 1825 he became interested in reading poems by I. I. Dmitriev.

Alexei failed to complete the course of study: after the first year, his father decided to take his son out of the school. He motivated this by the fact that without the help of the boy he could not cope with the affairs, and even one year of study was enough. For quite a long time, Alexei was engaged in driving and selling livestock.

creative way

Poetry, which by that time the boy had become interested in, was forbidden by his father to engage in: he demanded that he devote all his time and attention to trade. But regardless of this, Alexei at the age of 16 still wrote his first poem - "Three Visions". However, after a while he destroyed it, because he believed that he was imitating the style of his favorite poet. I wanted to find my own unique style.

Around the same time, people appeared in the biography of Alexei Vasilyevich Koltsov who helped the talented poet express his individuality.

The first person from whom the creative path of the young poet began was Dmitry Kashkin, a bookseller in a shop next door. He allowed Alexei to use books for free, of course, only on condition that he treated them with care.

Koltsov showed him his first works: Kashkin was very well-read and developed and also liked to write poetry. The seller saw himself in the young poet, so he treated him well and helped in any way he could. Thanks to this, for five years the young poet used books free of charge, studied and developed independently, without giving up helping his father.

Soon the poet had a change in his personal life: he falls in love with a girl who was a serf. But their relationship is so serious that they are going to get married. However, Mister Chance separates the couple. This drama leaves a bitter mark on the creative biography of Alexei Vasilyevich Koltsov, a summary of the poems of 1827 suggests that they were all dedicated to unhappy love.

In the same year, seminarian Andrei Srebryansky appeared in his life, who after a while became a close friend and mentor at creative way. Acquaintance with this man helped Alexei survive the break with his beloved. Thanks to the parting words and advice of Srebryansky, four poems were published in 1830, and the world learned that there was such a poet - Alexei Koltsov.

The main stage of the creative biography of Alexei Vasilyevich Koltsov is acquaintance with This happened in 1831. The publicist and thinker became interested in the works of the young poet and published his poems in the newspaper. Four years later, Stankevich published the first and only collection of Poems by Alexei Koltsov during the author's lifetime. After that, the author became popular even in literary circles.

Despite his creative breakthrough, Alexey did not stop doing his father's business: he continued to travel to different cities on family matters. And fate also continued to bring him to prominent people. Plus, the poet began to collect local folklore, wrote a lot about the life of ordinary people, peasants and their hard work.

Death of poet

In 1842, without surviving a terrible disease, the poet dies at the age of thirty-three. In the last years of his life, Alexei often quarrels with his father because of his negative attitude towards his work. Although for my short life he got pretty great results: became not only a successful cattle seller, but also a famous Russian poet, whose poems were known to absolutely everyone.

Alexey Vasilyevich was buried in the Voronezh region in the Literary Necropolis.

A monument to the poet has been erected on Sovetskaya Square in the city of Voronezh, which has survived to this day.

But death did not complete the creative biography of Alexei Vasilyevich Koltsov. In 1846, a Russian actor and acquaintance of Koltsov published his poems in the newspaper Repertoire and Pantheon, thus perpetuating the memory of a friend.

And in 1856, the popular newspaper Sovremennik published an article on the life and work of Koltsov, written by Nikolai Gavrilovich Chernyshevsky.